FDA Approves Clinical Trial for Cancer-Busting Turkey Tail Mushroom

The research about Turkey Tail mushroom is so significant for medicine. Researchers study how a traditional Chinese mushroom helps cancer patients strengthen their immune systems.

The news about Turkey Tail made headlines in 2012 when the FDA approved clinical trials to test the cancer-healing properties of Polysaccharide K (PSK), an extract that comes from Trametes Versicolor, or Turkey Tail mushroom. It is been brewed for thousands of years as a Chinese medicinal tea. Now Bastyr University researchers are closer to discovering whether the turkey tail mushroom (Trametes Versicolor) can help cancer patients boost their immune systems during chemotherapy.

The study found that Turkey Tail mushroom extract was able to increase the level and activity of Natural Killer Cells as well as “cytotoxic T-cells.” The job of this cells is to hunt down harmful pathogens, especially cancer cells, and destroy them. All the women in this part of the trial had raised lymphocyte as well as NK cell counts after a daily dose of 6 and 9 grams over a period of 4 weeks.Ladies who were given the higher amounts (9 grams) showed higher levels of T cells. There are no negative side effects were discovered with any of the women.

Noted Researchers Speak Out About Turkey Tail

Famous mycologist and author Paul Stamets is one of the main providers of Turkey Tail mushrooms because his mother was healed from breast cancer with the use of Turkey Tail in 2009.

“Cancer is notorious for its ability to evade immune detection,” says Stamets. “One theory is that when patients ingest our Turkey Tail mycelium, the immune system’s increased populations of NK cells and their associated CD8 glycoproteins are better able to discover and bind to receptor sites on the stroma of tumors, thus allowing NK invasion.”

There are new findings which were discovered by Dr.Wenner of Bastyr University. He said “The opportunity to present our findings to an international audience is quite important,” “Having worked as an investigator on the study since 2004, it felt like a fitting conclusion to bring back these positive findings to a group that has access to this mushroom extract and can apply our findings to treatment options in their oncology practices and in doing further research.”

FDA Approval Still Stalled

In previous studies is shown that Turkey Tail can help with upper respiratory tract infections, pulmonary disease, urinary tract infections, malaise and digestive tract issues. Also, it has shown to be effective against colorectal cancer and lymphoma.

In the U.S Turkey Tail extract is still not approved.But we hope that the final results of the Bastyr University study, combined with the results of all the other Turkey Tail mushroom studies over the years, will finally push the envelope towards approval soon.

The most important thing is that Turkey Tail has helped reinvigorate the patient’s immune systems of Stage IV Breast Cancer. This research proves that with a little help from Nature, the body can– and does– heal from cancer.